For the past few weeks we’ve noticed a certain ad in our paper, just a white duck surrounded by black with the words “Opening Soon.” Well the mystery is over: Asheville’s popular White Duck Taco Shop will open at 792 Folly Rd. the week of June 23.
Eight months ago Eater.com announced that White Duck was slated to open in a former service station at 1648 Folly Road. But owner Andrew Pannell tells us that plan fell through last October. “We had a drunk driver run through the building right before construction,” he says. “Thankfully no one was there at the time. No one was hurt. Long story short I had to bail out of that.”
But it was a mixed blessing as Pannell feels the new location, in the same shopping center with Baguette Magic, is a better fit and will still offer outdoor patio seating.
As for the food, Asheville owners Ben and Laura Mixson’s same crowd-pleasing recipes will makeup the Charleston menu. “We have a Korean bulgogi, kimchi bulgogi, a tofu banh mi, Bangkok shrimp, a black bean taco, plus sharing options,” says Pannell.
And there will be drinks too. “We’ll have basically a canned beer option, a couple draft beers which we’ll rotate seasonally, and margaritas,” Pannell adds.
Pannell, who went to college at CofC with Ben, says his Charleston outpost will be the first franchise for the taco shop which now has two locations in Asheville. “I think we’re bringing a unique product to the mix. Charleston is one of the strongest food scenes in the country per capita. We’re just happy to be opening up in a town where everybody else has great products too,” says Pannell. “We do internationally inspired tacos. We’re a little bit different than most of the other operations. We’re not bar-centric. I have alcohol, but we don’t consider ourselves a bar. We’re family restaurant.”
Given the opening date and Folly Road location, we’ve got a mind to think White Duck will absolutely kill it with the beach crowd.
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